HP Probook 4431s CPU upgrade

[NTeodor]

Hello guys, I know this might be a dumb question, I know, but it is in my head for a long period of time and I really need an honest answer because maybe some of you tried this thing or not.
So in short I own a HP Probook 4431s with a Intel i3 2310M 2.1 GHz processor on a HP 167E motherboard with a socket 988B rPGA. Is a 2 Core 4 Threads CPU which goes pretty great together with a SSD. My boot time is almost instant (3 seconds max) and is fairly good in multitasking, web browsing, file managing and so on.
But I intend to play on this laptop because is a slim and cool laptop and I really like it. I hooked it up to a 27" ASUS ROG monitor and is great. So I scrolled the internet and I found out that a LOOOT of Intel CPU's share the same socket like my laptop, the top one would be a Intel Core i7 3940XM 3.0 GHz with 4 Cores. Well this CPU seems amazing right? The main differences would be TDP of 35W of i3 vs TDP of 55W of i7 AND the i3 has only 2 cores and i7 4 cores so it might be refused by mobo or bios. I searched a lot on google about this difference and I only found out differences between 35W and 45W, and a lot of people say that 45W CPU's can be accepted very well by heatsink's designed for 35W. But what about 55W TDP? How much TDP is this extra 20W and how dangerous can be for my motherboard? How can I know if my BIOS will accept a 4Core CPU different from my 2Core CPU?

 

[Barty1884]

It's pretty rare that a laptop uses a socketed CPU and not soldered. In this instance though, you *could* replace the CPU.

Your issues are going to be as you highlight.
1. TDP issues. Your laptop is designed to cool a 35W chip. Laptops typically can just barely handle the chips they're designed for. Putting a greater TDP chip in there will almost certainly throttling - rendering the "upgrade" useless.

2. BIOS support is typically only for the CPUs that were available stock, from the factory.
https://support.hp.com/nz-en/product/hp-probook-4331s-notebook-pc/5045453/document/c02794654
It does appear variants existed with either an i7-2630QM (a 45W TDP part) so, unless they overhauled the cooling solution... the setup *should* be capable of handling it.

A safer bet would be the i7-2620M, a 35W TDP..... but really, you still get a 2/4 chip.

....The problem is, finding any of those mobile i7 chips can be tough, and expensive.


Beyond those CPUs, BIOS support is probably lacking. The only way to know for sure, would be to try.

 

[NTeodor]

It's pretty rare that a laptop uses a socketed CPU and not soldered. In this instance though, you *could* replace the CPU.

Your issues are going to be as you highlight.
1. TDP issues. Your laptop is designed to cool a 35W chip. Laptops typically can just barely handle the chips they're designed for. Putting a greater TDP chip in there will almost certainly throttling - rendering the "upgrade" useless.

2. BIOS support is typically only for the CPUs that were available stock, from the factory.
https://support.hp.com/nz-en/product/hp-probook-4331s-notebook-pc/5045453/document/c02794654
It does appear variants existed with either an i7-2630QM (a 45W TDP part) so, unless they overhauled the cooling solution... the setup *should* be capable of handling it.

A safer bet would be the i7-2620M, a 35W TDP..... but really, you still get a 2/4 chip.

....The problem is, finding any of those mobile i7 chips can be tough, and expensive.


Beyond those CPUs, BIOS support is probably lacking. The only way to know for sure, would be to try.

Well I didn't found the document of my laptop, so HUGE Thank You for this link, there is a lot of useful info for me there. Secondly.....my CPU is not soldered in so I consider myself lucky in this instance. I did find the CPU I want on ebay sold by the amazing chinese people. Is not very cheap as you said and you are right. I know that laptops are very exigent about their CPU capabilities, a desktop PC would be much more permissive as long as you meet the socket requirement and you offer the proper cooling. But my desktop PC is broken and I really don't know what to do. This is my wife laptop and I kinda took it because she rarely uses it. And compared with my desktop PC is very slow in performance and I can't properly game on it. Is fast as boot time and others but as FPS generator....not quite. Is quite infuriating to know that you meet the socket but the BIOS or mobo won't accept your upgrade CPU 🙁
https://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_trksid=m570.l1313&_nkw=Intel+Core+i7+3940XM&_sacat=0

 

[Barty1884]

Is there a GPU in that model? I though it was integrated only? If so, regardless of upgrading the CPU, you're stuck with HD3000.

 

[NTeodor]

Well the only upgrade will be the CPU power. This model comes with a HD4000 as a plus, that's all. But there are external GPU's adapters for laptops and I will use those as a solution. Sure it sounds complicated and dumb, but I just want to know if it works ) A 3.00 Ghz CPU capable of a turbo to 3.9 GHz sounds great for a laptop right? It would be cool to be possible https://ark.intel.com/products/71096/Intel-Core-i7-3940XM-Processor-Extreme-Edition-8M-Cache-up-to-3_90-GHz

 

[Barty1884]

Worth a shot, if you're prepared to be down however much the CPU will cost you.
The chances of that CPU having support from the BIOS is slim....

But if you want to take the chance, go for it. Very capable CPU.

Whether the laptop can adequately cool it.... is unlikely. The hottest CPU they anticipated was 45W. While 10W doesn't sound like a lot, in a laptop/confined space, I would expect it to throttle under any decent load.

 

[NTeodor]

Well luckily for me this model of laptop has a huge back cover and I can experiment with cooling almost as easy as a desktop PC. It will lose it's status as "laptop" for sure but hey, it's important to work as needed I was very surprised as well by the 3940XM specs and that's why I said I need one. I guess if I spend £ 300 on the CPU alone and some more on the cooling and maybe a adapter for the 1080Ti MAYBE I can make a nasty gaming rig And as for the deceased desktop PC, I thought to buy a AMD Ryzen 3 2700X with a ASUS ROG Crosshair VI HERO mobo and 16 GB DDR4. But this is for another post. Anyway THANK YOU VERY much for the help you gave me, it means a lot for me. I really don't experiment with laptops very much but I will try to buy this CPU. Let's hope I don't burn my motherboard while trying to boot.....